Man oh man, what would I do without Twitter?

Last night on The Celtics Late Night Show, myself and my co-host Nick Gelso engaged into a brief debate about whether or not it's a good thing for guys like Shaq and Big Baby to be doing the stuff they do on Twitter.

I supported the side that it is fun, and a good way for these guys to connect with their fans. After all, they are people just like we all are and they want to have fun now and then too. In the meantime, Nick was arguing that it was a distraction, and blah blah blah. Give me a break old man!

Anyways, I think it's funny and for that reason I decided to start up a new feature here on Gino's Jungle called "Big Baby Tweets". Lately, Big Baby has been a riot on Twitter and for that reason I'll be putting up a weekly feed of his tweets courtesy of Twackle.

So far this offseason Glen has released videos of himself doing the "dougie", videos of him singing "Cooler Than Me", and now today he tweeted a picture of himself playing tug of war with his dog. Needless to say, this feature should add some much needed humor to "The Jungle".

I'm not sure how long this feature will last, probably until the beginning of the season, but we'll keep it going as long as Big Baby keeps on tweeting.

At the end of the Celtics 2009-2010 NBA season, there was one player on the Celtics roster that I didn't believe would be coming back. After coming to Boston in hopes of turning around his reputation of being "injury-prone", Marquis Daniels failed during his first season as a Boston Celtic.

During the early parts of last season many experts were starting to consider Marquis one of the top acquisitions of the offseason. Boy, oh boy, did that change. The injury bug once again hit Marquis during the 2009-2010 season, and he once again missed a majority of games because of it. When he did finally recover from the injury, it was clear that his confidence had been shook and he spent most of the NBA playoffs on the bench.

To my surprise, however, the Celtics decided to give Quis another shot by offering him a one-year deal worth around $2.4 million dollars. With the number of available free agent swingman, the Celtics felt as though Marquis was one of the best, and most affordable, options out there.

There's no doubt, when healthy, that Marquis could be considered one of the top swingmen coming off the bench in the NBA. The problem thus far in his career is that he can't stay healthy, and that has hurt his stock tremendously.

Today, Chris Forsberg, along with his panel of eighteen experts, over at ESPN Boston took a look at what to expect from Marquis this season. Let's just say that the numbers were all over the board, with the average expectations coming out at 7 points and 3 rebounds in 22 minutes.

Somehow, I once again floated right around the average in my prediction. Here is my explanation and prediction that I gave to ESPN Boston.

Brandon Paul, Gino's Jungle (7 points, 2 rebounds, 15 minutes)

 

To be quite honest, I have no expectations for Daniels. I really like what he can bring to the team, but the question is whether or not his body allows him to bring it to the team. I can see him being the first or second wing player off the bench, or a guy who gets free courtside seats every game. I truly don't know what to expect from Marquis, I just hope it ends up being good.

To follow up on what I wrote there, I truly still do not know what to expect for Daniels. If he plays well and stays healthy, he could be one of the first guys off the bench. If he struggles with his confidence and gets hit with the injury bug, we could see him doing exactly what he did at the end of last season.

Out of all the players on the team this year, Marquis may have the most pressure on him to perform. This will probably be his last shot to really prove himself in the league and, quite frankly,  he needs to play well for the Celtics to succeed.

As we currently stand, Marquis will be number two on the depth at the small forward position behind Paul Pierce. If he doesn't perform, or gets injured, that could really throw things off and cause problems for the Celtics bench.

In closing thoughts: Marquis if you're reading this man, I really want to like you as a player. I love your game and love your attitude on the court. But, this is your last shot to prove all the "haters" wrong. Go out there and let your game do the talking.

When you think of a "True Celtic", you do not have to look far down the 2010-11 Roster to find the player that fits the description to a tee.  That player is Paul Pierce.  Paul has played his entire 12 year NBA Career with the C's and will finish his career with one team, the Boston Celtics.

 

 

If you wounder how great his tenure in the NBA has been so far, here are some stats and highlights that I think you will find very interesting:

 

Career Regular Season Statistics

Points Per Game: 22.5

Rebounds Per Game: 6.1

Assists Per Game: 3.8

Steals Per Game: 1.5

Blocks Per Game: 0.6

Field Goal Percentage: 44.5

3-Point Shooting Percentage: 36.9

Free Throw Percentage: 80.2

 

Career Playoff Statistics

Points Per Game: 21.4

Rebounds Per Game: 6.6

Assists Per Game: 4.1

Steals Per Game: 1.3

Blocks Per Game: 0.7

Field Goal Percentage: 42.5

3-Point Shooting Percentage: 34.0

Free Throw Percentage: 82.0

Career Honors

NBA Champion: 2008

NBA Finals MVP: 2008

All-NBA Second Team: 2009

3-Time All-NBA Third Team: 2002, 2003, 2008

8-Time NBA All Star: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010

NBA All-Rookie First Team: 1999

NBA 3-Point Contest Winner: 2010

 

Facts do not lie folks.  Paul Pierce is one of the best players in the NBA.  He is an All Time Celtic Great and a future Hall of Famer.  You can be sure that his #34 will be hanging from The Rafters, once his career is done.

 

 

Recap:

Best Game of Round 1 Vs. Miami Heat- Game 1

Best Game of Round 2 Vs. Cleveland Cavaliers- Game 6

Best Game of Eastern Conference Finals Vs. Orlando Magic- Game 2

Best game of the NBA Finals...

                                                          Game 2

                                              Celtics- 103   Lakers- 94

What took place during Game 7 will not be mentioned in my "Best of" series.

Game 2 had a lot of meaning to the Celtics. It would be very difficult to take all 3 games (in a row with the 2-3-2 format) at home against the Lakers. So what did they do? Well HE.. Ray Allen, took the game over in the first half on a record setting night.

Ray Allen's performance was something you had to sit back and admire. He made his first 7 three pointers in the first half. That alone tied the record for three pointers made in an entire NBA Finals game (Scottie Pippen and Kenny Smith each had 7 in an NBA Finals game). Allen quieted down in the 2nd half but did hit the record breaking 3 just over halfway through the 3rd.

The Celtics looked in control of the game through the majority of the first half but after an poor pass by Shelden Williams, Kobe Bryant stole the ball and hit a deep 3 that brought the C's in the locker room up only 6.

The entire second half was back and forth. The Lakers would grab a small lead, but the Celtics would snatch it away. Neither team could really take a strangle hold on the game until the C's put together a few good defensive stops, good coaching, and taking what the Lakers were giving them (a Rondo jump shot).

This game was very exciting and it kept us on the edge of our seats.. or standing.. while the game teetered back and forth. What steered me away from choosing Games 4 and 5 is that those games were in more "control" [if you would like to call 5 points control], for a longer period of time.

 

 

 

 

 

Today started the second week of the ever so popular Celtics Summer Forecast on ESPN Boston. Today, a panel of experts from eight Celtics blogs outlined their expectations for the newest Celtics big man, Shaquille O'Neal.

The average of the group came out to be around 11 points and 7 rebounds per game. Jon Duke of Celtics Stuff Live was the most optimistic of the bunch saying that Shaq would put up 15 points and 8 rebounds a game in 24 minutes of action.

Our buddy Nick Gelso over at North Station Sports had the lowest expectations for The Big Shammrock, saying that Shaq would put up 8 points and 6 rebounds a game in 22 minutes of action.

I happened to be right about in the middle of those two.

Brandon Paul, Gino's Jungle (20 minutes, 12 points, 8 rebounds)

 

My expectations for Shaq are probably a lot higher than those of many others. The way everything went down this offseason, I expect Shaq to come out a lot stronger than he did last season. Being on the Celtics he can get revenge on LeBron James and Kobe Bryant in one season by winning another title. Let's say 20 minutes, 12 points, and 8 rebounds per game -- and a whole lot of missed free throws.

I guess you can say I have higher expectations than most of the gang, but I was kind of shocked to see that the average came out as high as it did. Boston has more faith in those 38-year old legs than I thought!

The way I look at it, Shaq's going to have to focus on one thing: getting rebounds. If he can enter games. bang around the opposition, and grab 7 or 8 rebounds a game, his veterans minimum contract will end up being a bargain.

The two things Forsberg didn't ask us to predict for Shaq were free throws missed and number of times beaten on the pick and roll per game. If he can keep it under two in each of those categories he'll be doing good.